The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) recently issued an amendment to its ISO14001 standard for Environmental Management Systems (ISO14001:2015, Amendment 1:2024). Although the text of the update is not substantial in the sense of the number of clauses changed, it is significant in that it clarifies that climate change must be evaluated to determine if it is a “relevant issue” (Section 4.1). In Section 4.2, the amendment further clarifies that interested parties can have requirements related to climate change that can be included in the scope. In short, the amendment makes climate change considerations an integral and required part of an organization’s environmental management system. It should be noted that this same amendment was added to ISO9001 (Quality) and ISO45001 (Health & Safety).
What does this mean? Depends on your EMS, as many organizations have already incorporated climate change evaluation as a relevant issue, since they likely had to review this as part of either internal or external environment, sustainability, and governance (ESG) reporting. However, the second clause may start pulling in climate change and greenhouse gas-related customer requests as part of a growing supply chain ESG push.
CMI’s can help your organization, with support related to updating your aspects and impacts registers, identifying interested parties and requirements, listing legal and other requirements, or conducting internal audits. Assistance in ESG requirements can also be provided, as these programs are becoming much more intertwined.
The Standard Amendment can be found here.
Written by: Christopher Maye, P.E.